SPILL THE BEANS ON YOUR JOB.

So I've got to say that my job has done really well with the whole pandemic thing.

Non-essential staff are to not to report in. I don't know how I feel being deemed essential production support staff, since I do work for the operations department and whatnot. Apparently some people in our design and development group are getting tested for COVID-19 as they're exhibiting the symptoms, which has caused me a huge amount of anxiety as someone prone to that garbage. The solace is that I do not work closely with them in any degree at all. It does make me feel important, but I'm about 80% of the way to an anxiety attack/breakdown similar to when I watched 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and freaked the fuck out at age 7 while my school was in lockdown due to a dude with a gun walking the premises. Anyway, I wish I was valued enough to have someone force me to stay home, because I clearly do not value myself enough to do so as I report in and spend more than 8 hours each day at work despite being non-exempt personnel on the daily; I make an income that can be considered a borderline joke for my credentials, yet I feel cherished by those around me as an example and proverbial de facto leader despite my flaws.

The place has become a ghost town except for our manufacturing floor in our class 10,000 cleanroom, which has been kept well stocked of sanitary supplies. My drive has gone from 9 minutes to 7 minutes as I don't even have to wait at the two traffic signals I encounter. I've spent my few days listening LPs and EPs lost to my past while I organize materials for the materials department to aid heightened production, which we've managed to ramp despite all odds set in stone. I've managed to affect the culture of our quality notices since there are less people to get in the way; I feel empowered in the husk of a company that's marching along as the chassis of its former self.

I'm not sure why I wrote all of this, I'm a stressed small man who doesn't feel like he knows what he's doing.

I work for myself. 

I'm a cat sitter.

It's 7 days a week, so fairly antisocial. 

I've worked for some hell-holes. Warehouses, call centres, police office staff. All fucking horrible jobs where the customers/clients you're dealing with are horrible, as well as the people you're working for.

My current job is the best thing I've ever had — support consultant for a web hosting company. Really enjoying it.

I've been working on web application backends for 25+ years, from hardware, networks and infrastructure to administration, software development, devops, security and integrations. I'm a self-taught generalist, not an engineer, but no-one's asked for any professional qualifications since last millennium. I tried management/leadership for a few years, it was fun but less challenging and interesting than twiddling bits and bytes - I'm more useful as a technology person so I'm not climbing any corporate ladders (I dislike the social games on the way up, too). I've been doing this for so long and have enough experience to safely say that I'll always have a job. I prefer and have chosen to be employed on a monthly salary than go for startups or become an entrepeneur myself. I won't get rich but I'm comfortable enough, not Silicon Valley comfortable with fuck you money, just enough.